My Faves

Here are a few of my favorite magazines. I can sit and look at these for hours upon hours. And then a few days later, I can look at them again! HA! Country Home Magazine is one of my most favorites. I have gotten it for years. I also get Home Companion for some more Mary loveliness...but as of now....I believe, they don't have a publisher for next year. That makes me very unhappy! I hope she finds a new one before January. I am quite sure that I am not the only Mary fan out there....just her biggest. Hee hee! ;)



Hallmark magazine is one of my newest favorites. I love the stories in there and the recipes are great too!



Anyway...it's time for a cup of coffee (in my cute Mary Christmas cup), curl up in my comfy spot on the couch with a soft blankie and read some of these. Wish you were here to join me.

First snow of the season

It happened. The first snow of the season. Just a light dusting but none the less, it came. Is it just me or does it seem like it came early this year? It seems here in the midwest that the seasons are all different than they were when I was a child. I remember building snow forts and snow men and making snow angels and eating "snow cones" with the freshly fallen snow. Now I am not so sure if I would let my kids do that or not. All the stuff you hear on t.v. about the ozone layer and pollution...is it safe to eat the stuff that falls from the sky? Who knows.

So, welcome winter and snow. You are welcome to stay until January 2nd...then scoot on out of here! :)

Santa's workshop...

Santa's workshop is officially open! Last night I made these little pretties for some people on the nice list. :) The family one is for my sister in law since I have her name in our drawing. She has a lot of pictures sitting around her house so I think she will like this to put a picture of her hubby and her son in it.
The grandkids one is for my co-worker. She ADORES her grandbabies more than anyone I know. I think she is going to love it.
The third one that says cousins is for moi'. I bought the frame this summer with intentions of putting a picture of my girls and my nephew from Disney in it. Obviously I never got that done. So, after I fancied it all up...I am ready to put the kids picture in it. Of course my frame is pink. Of course. :)

Oh Christmas Tree....Oh Christmas Tree

Well, here we are. Preparing for another Christmas season. We put our tree up last weekend. It is a slim line, pre-lit tree from QVC. We have a small house and this is just the right size for our living room. We are hosting Christmas this year for our families and we can not have the tree taking up most of the room when we need space for all our loved ones! :) My only wish is that is smelled like fresh pine....oh well...This is my souvenir from our Disney vacation this year. All my favorite characters are on it along with the year we went. We have two of them now. Can not wait to add a third one. I LOVE that place!

This ornament is special to my husband. His grandfather made it for him. It is a little wooden fellow. It has fabric on the feet and belly. Can you see the sweet rick-rack around the fabric? He is also sporting a little fabric hat. My husband asks every year when the ornament box comes out..."where is my ornament that Grandpa made me?" He places it on the tree himself. I watched the girls faces this year when he did it. They both just smiled at him and watched him place his memory on our tree just like they do.

This is my very first Christmas tree ornament I ever had. My mother used to be a beautician. One of the ladies that she worked for in her forty plus years of doing hair gave this to me on my first Christmas when I was seven months old. It is made from a styrofoam ball with a pipe cleaner face and a little felt hat with some glitter on it. This baby is 42 years old! HA! I too look forward to unwrapping it from the ornament box each year and placing it on our tree to enjoy. One of those little things that just make me smile.....

And last but not least.....you know my tree could not be decorated with some Mary loveliness...right? She is a little fairy sitting on a sea shell with a bucket and shovel like she is playing at the beach. She is sporting a very cute blue pokka dot swimsuit and little red flip flops. Oh...the cuteness! :) I must confess though....there are several Mary ornaments on my tree, but hey...what's wrong with that? ;)

What about you? What ornaments are special to you and your family?

A whole lot of turkey going on!

Well...we made it! Another holiday dinner under our belts. And, I must say....we had to loosen our belts after this meal. Holy Turkey! We were all in carb comas after this meal. Here was our menu....this MOIST and TENDER bird (by far the best one I have ever made and I have made a lot!)

Not only was he tender and yummy, he was pretty too! HA!

We also had mashed potatoes, dressing, noodles, deviled eggs, ambrosia salad, orange jello salad, cranberry salad, rolls with apple and pumpkin butter, green beans and broccoli and califlower salad. Then for dessert, we had pumpkin roll, red velvet cake roll, pumpkin pie, brownies and cherry pie.

Here is a picture of the cherry pie. My niece, Erin, made it in her home ec class. She was not sure if she got a grade on it or not, but I told her she should of....and it would of gotten a A+ if I were her teacher. It was yummo!! She did an excellent job!

Here is the pumpkin pie I made for my hubby. He, lets say, kind of threw a fit when he heard there was all those other desserts going to be here and no pie for him. So, I made a pumpkin pie for him. I kind of put some bling on it. Those are little cinnamon and sugar maple leaves on the edges of the pie and also a few in the center along with a couple cinnamon sugar pumpkins. It was pretty and yummy....if I do say so myself. ;)

This is a picture of my baby sister and I. She is the taller one. :) I am the shorter one. The much shorter one. HA! We both wore brown today. Great minds think alike.

We spent time in the afternoon drinking yummy coffee and eating pie sitting around the table visiting and laughing and remembering the past and holidays gone by. It was fun listening to my father in law and mother in law and my mother talk about old times and their first jobs and how much or little money they used to make when they were young. I looked at the table and teared up today. My mom and my father in law are the same age. Both are not in good health. I worry about both of them. I told God right then and there that I was soooo thankful that He gave me both of these wonderful people to share my life with. What a blessing everyone at my table is to me! My mother in law, my sister in law, my niece, my daddy, my nephew, my sister, my husband and my daughters.....all mean so much to me. I am very thankful for the gift of them. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Now, scoot over kitty and doggie...mama needs the couch. I need to loosen my belt and let this food settle. :)

Bring on the turkey!

Pumpkin pie made. Check. Cute message on the chalk board for everyone tomorrow. Check. Turkey waiting patiently in the fridge to be roasted to a lovely brown perfection. Check. Little rubber duckie/turkey for kids table decoration out. Check. Cute little cinnamon sugar maple leaves and pumpkins baked and cooked to top the pumpkin pie when we are ready to serve it. Check.

Well, I think I am almost ready for Thanksgiving. I am hosting this year. My parents, my sister and her son, my in laws, my sister in law and her daughter are coming. Along with the four of us. It will be a house full...but isn't that when the most fun things happen? I love to pack them in our small house. :) Nothing says love, here on earth, like a house full of people you love, good food on the table, wonderful table talk going on, games being played by everyone. Heck, even men sleeping on the couch with a football game blaring to loud on the tv is love to me. It makes me thankful that I have this home. Thankful that I have money to buy food to feed everyone. Thankful that I have dishes to wash after the meal because that means my tummy, and those that I love, is full and satisfied. Thankful that I have a couch to lay on and a tv to watch the football game. Just plain thankful. :) God is good, isn't He? Sometimes I forget to thank Him for all the blessings He gives me. But tomorrow, I plan on thanking Him. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

Walkin In A Glitter Wonderland

Lookie what my sissy and I made together in Santa's workshop! I went from fabric to glitter. And boy, was it fun! We started on Saturday at my sisters house. We had to stop in the afternoon to take the wee ones to see Bolt at the movies. (Good movie by the way!) We finished them up this afternoon at my house and here they are. I have seen these different places and they have always been so stinking expensive. I, as usual, would say...."I could make these." And then, forget about it. Well, not this time! I was meandering down the isle at Hobby Lobby one day and saw these really cute paper mache' cottage houses in the Christmas section. I bought them at 40% off, which they were super cheap already. I told my sister about them and she had bought one already herself. So, we carved time out of our busy lives (cuz that is what us women have to do) and made them for ourselves this weekend while the daddy's were deer hunting. :)



I made two. This one is the smaller one. We thought they needed a little something extra besides the trees, so my sister has been working with paper mache' lately and I asked her to whip up some snow ladies for our glitter houses and she did. Look at these sweet faces we painted on them! And, check out their lovely scarves! Oh....the sweetness!!!!

This is the second one I made. Pink. My FAVORITE!!!! I added some little Christmas lights on the rooftop for some extra fun. Then I began to play with this snow stuff she had in a small jar. That was a lot of fun too! Another snow lady for this one too! And a white picket fence for more cuteness! Really...how much sweetness can one person take! HA! Several times while making these, we actually squeeled with joy. Seriously.And, last but not least, this is the beauty that my sissy made. Hers is kind of like a shaker style house. She does not have a front door on hers. That is because she has an "open door policy" at her place. Come on in when-ever you like. ;) She used some of the lights I used but made them into lights on her tree. How sweet is that???!!!???

So, as you can see, we were quite busy this weekend at our houses....making little houses to make us smile and welcome in this wonderful holiday season. Now where did I put that glue gun..........